The Princeling Of Nanjing

Ava is in Shanghai for the launch of the PÖ clothing line. She has invited Xu, and over the course of the glitzy event and a late-night dinner, she detects a certain hesitancy in him. He confides that the Tsai family, headed by Tsai Lian, the governor of Jiangsu Province and a "princeling" - he is the son of a general who was on the Long March with Mao and a member of China's power elite - is trying to force him and his Triad organization back into the drug business. Xu is already paying millions of dollars a year to various Tsai businesses, but the family wants more and thinks the new venture can deliver it. Xu believes this move would lead to his eventual destruction and feels he has nowhere to turn. If he opposes them, they will crush him. If he goes along with them, he thinks that inevitably the police and military will hunt him down. Ava sets out to help Xu deter the Tsai family. As she digs into the breadth and depth of the family's wealth and corruption, she gets caught up in a huge tangled web, extending all the way to the U.S. and the U.K., where it reaches the top echelons of political power.

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Yes, Ava again is travelling the world and this time she is sorting out the fashion business. I liked this novel because it was the first Ava Lee read, but the more novels about her exploits the more the reader wishes to be rid of these boring tiresome lascivious descriptions of her sex life, her boobs and whatever else fantasied. It's not necessary at all. Not sure if the author thinks the reader is looking for all that nonsense but this absolute fascination with her body is found in every other paragraph in every other chapter!! This fantasy he writes does not work for a heterosexual female. The descriptions are cringeworthy, actually. Better luck next time with this reader. 1.5/10

The farther this series goes the less time Ava is spending in Canada and the more time she is spending in Asia, specifically areas around Shanghai and Hong Kong. I love how descriptive the author is with the setting of these books as these are areas I haven't visited (yet) and it's very obvious that he has, with fond memories.
I'm intrigued with the direction toward triad, gang and shady politics. I'm still missing the character of Uncle, he was a staid and calming influence and May doesn't quite fulfill that role. I do like the addition of Xu, he's an enigmatic person and every time he's in the story I'm interested to see what he will drag Ava into.
I am less interested in the new business propositions that are becoming such a large part of these stories, I'm always waiting to get past these parts and on to the good stuff, where Ava heads off on her own to kick butt and solve a mystery.

I love this series, but found the previous book (King of Shanghai) to be tedious. This one is definitely better.
Ava is still involved with the fashion world, although this time is focused on her helping out Xu, which brings her back to her roots. This didn't have the tension and suspense that the earlier novels had. The ease and speed with which she gathers her info seems to be a bit far fetched, as is the outcome, but I'm glad Ian Hamilton is steering her back to what she does best!